Will Ferrell has shared his frustration that fans of his latest film, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, completely missed an in-joke about his iconic film Elf.
The 53-year-old American comedian plays Lars Erickssong in the 2020 film that lampoons Eurovision – and previously played Buddy the Christmas elf in the 2003 movie, Elf.
One of the biggest jokes about his Eurovision film – which Will co-wrote – involves mythical elves from Iceland helping his character in a key, dramatic scene.
But Will’s character Lars also expresses a hatred and disbelief for elves throughout the film – a plot point that, it transpires, was an in-joke that was seemingly too clever for most viewers to grasp.
Opening up about his film to Variety, Will explained all.
Responding to a question about the Elves in the Eurovision film, he said: “You know what’s funny? Nobody got the subtext to that.
“We were trying to put in this bit about how Lars has issues with elves and elves are stupid and thought, ‘That’s going to get such a funny laugh because of Buddy the Elf.’
“But it just went over everyone’s head.”
Will continued: “It was supposed to be such an obvious joke that we should have my character just hate all things elf-related, and I starred in ‘Elf.’ And that just kind of flew by.”
While Elf is beloved by many, Will’s Eurovision film divided fans and critics and is currently nominated for a Grammy Award – while also being listed on ‘worst film of the year’ lists.
In their dating review, film experts Empire declared: "The votes are in and it's official: this largely unfunny paean to Eurovision is a waste of some serious talent. At least some of the songs are decent."
However, Will has also expressed his delight a the soundtrack of the Netflix movie being Grammy nominated.
He told Variety: “we wanted to pay homage to the camp of Eurovision and the style, but at the same time, we really wanted it to be a love letter to the contest as well.
“There’s an art to creating this kind of music and so to see that recognized is great.”
